Soul searching
by Awlric Hayell
Summary: Ranma does a bit of philosophizing. Chapter 2 is up!
1. Chapter 1

_**Soul Searching**_

_**By: Awlric Hayell (AKA Ryushi Nigami)**_

_**Disclaimer: Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Hatori Ohka belongs to me. End of discussion**_

_**A/N:**__ Well, I got bored and wrote this one day. That's all I have to say at the moment. It's not a finished work and it probably never will be. Feel free to use this plot in any way you wish, so long as I get some credit._

_**Chap 1: Who am I?**_

Ranma Saotome was lying on the roof of the Tendou Dojo, relaxing during a brief reprieve from his daily conundrums. However, though his body was at rest, his mind was far from it. Truthfully, his lightning quick, martial arts oriented intellect was being used for a rare activity: philosophizing.

"Who am I?" He muttered to himself, frowning. "The heck is that s'pose ta mean?" He thought back to when the question was first posed to him.

"_Class, I would like to welcome a new student into our midst. Please, introduce yourself." _

_Ranma's ears twitched from where he was sleeping behind an open book. New students normally meant new chaos in Nerima. Chances were, if he looked up right at that moment, the new student would be (A) a new fiancé, and Akane would punch Ranma through the roof for even glancing at her, (B) A prodigy of some obscure and strange school of martial arts who vowed to kill or defeat a Saotome, or, at slim to nil odds, (C) A normal, but still strange, new student._

"_Ohayo, minna-san." Ranma started to pay more attention. The voice was male and didn't carry that tone of angst, despair, rage, or hate that Ranma heard from every other martial artist with a grudge against his Pops. "My name is Hatori Ohka. My blood type is O and I like to philosophize in my spare time." Of course, the bit about philosophy was strange, but everyone in Nerima is like that. That one girl who always seemed normal was a closet music otaku. _

"_Hello Hatori." The class (except for Ranma) echoed back monotonously._

_The Sub (apparently, Miss Hinako was at home with a tummy ache from too much ice cream and they actually found a normal person who was willing to take over for the day. They briefed him on the various trouble students…actually, they just exaggerated Ranma's _delinquency._) glanced down at the seating chart. "Well, it would seem that the only seat open is next to Saotome-san." _

_Ranma blinked. Where did that girl who sat next to him go? He knew he saw her there when he came in. Something wasn't right…_

_A few light footsteps, one scraping chair, and a rustling of clothes later, Hatori was seated next to infamous delinquent Ranma Saotome, bane of teachers everywhere. Ranma felt the new guy's eyes on him but ignored it. A few minutes later, Ranma turned to finally look at the new guy. He was fairly plain. He wore the standard Furinkan Boys uniform and a strange necklace that looked like the black half of a yin-yang. His unkempt blue hair screamed of dye, since his eyebrows were still a natural black, and his red and green eyes examined Ranma at their leisure. Ranma began to grow uncomfortable with the searching look. "Alright new guy, I'm getting' tired of be stared at like an animal in a zoo. Wadd'ya want?"_

"_Who are you?" Hatori asked curiously._

_The question threw Ranma for a loop. "Who am I? I'm Ranma Saotome, heir to the Musabetsu Kakuto Saotome-ryu, and the Best martial artist of my generation." Ranma would have said 'best martial artist in the world' but experience had taught him that there's always someone better._

"_Oh, I know who you are, God-killer." Ranma bristled at the casual title. He was still trying to forget what happened at Jusendo. "But who _are_ you?"_

_Ranma thought on this for a second. "What kind of stupid question is that?! I-"_

"_SAOTOME!"_

_Ranma jerked awake and reflexively caught the chalk aimed at his head. "What?" He snapped back. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the Goth girl who normally sat next to him was back and Hatori had disappeared. 'Musta been a dream…"_

"_Since you were obviously paying attention," The Sub rolled his eyes as the rest of the class laughed. "Perhaps you can shed some light on this equation on the board." _

_Unbeknownst to Ranma, since he was asleep at the time, the Sub had looked through an old college Calculus textbook he happened to have with him, wrote a complex integral equation on the board, and wrote the solution and answer on a separate piece of paper and handed it to one of the students in the front row so as to have them answer it when the Martial artist couldn't. He thought it would be a good prank on the delinquent._

_However, contrary to popular belief, Ranma was not as dumb as he looked. There wasn't much to do on the training trip when Genma stopped by a town for booze. So, while Genma binged and got drunk, Ranma snuck out to the local library for some 'training'. He read every book he could find and committed them to memory for ideas. Hey, Anything Goes, remember? As a result, Ranma had a whole lot of knowledge that Genma might have considered useless. He mostly used the Dumb Jock routine to let people underestimate him. But he was just woken up and so, half asleep, he forgot to sputter and stammer until the teacher called on someone else._

_Ranma glanced up at the board, searched his memory for that Integrals Made Easy book he once read, did a few quick calculations, and muttered the answer before putting his head back down for some sleep._

_The Sub's eye twitched. "SAOTOME!"_

_Ranma glared at him sleepily. "What now?"_

"_What is the answer?"_

"_Three pi times the square root of two." Ranma answered, yawning._

"_WRONG!" The Sub yelled. _

_The student the Sub handed the solution to raised her hand shakily. _

"_Yes, what's the answer?" _

_She glanced down at the sheet and over at Ranma before shuddering. "Saotome was right, sensei. The answer is three pi times the square root of two."_

_Ranma nodded and put his head back on his desk. "Told ya. I'm going back to sleep, now." Within seconds there were light snores coming from Ranma's desk. _

_Everyone stared at him in shock for about a minute before panicking. "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!!"_

Ranma sighed. "They didn't have to evacuate the school. It was only calculus." He looked up at the stars again. "Who am I? A martial artist? A fiancé? A man among men?" He scoffed. "Doubtful. I'm a girl half the time. What does 'Who am I' mean?"

_**End**_

_Well, that's that for now. I'll put the rest up later. Ja ne!_


	2. Trials of a Panda Man

1**Soul Searching**

**By: Awlric Hayell**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Saotome Ranma. He/She belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Hatori Ohka Does belong to me, though. He is my OOCOC._

_A/N: Well, as you know, I am unlikely to ever finish this story past what I have written on hard-copy (which is actually a fair amount). I was hoping to post this on Anime Addventure sometime andlet the talented writers there finish it, But I leave this open. If anyone wishes to use this story, feel free to do so. I would be much obliged. And one more thing that I forgot to mention. This is a slight AU in that, while Ranma has Defeated Saffron, Nodoka doesn't know about the curse...or does she?_

_**Chapter 2: Trials of a Panda Man**_

"Ranma-kun! Saotome-san!" Kasumi called from the door. "Dinner is ready!"

"Awright, food! And not just any food, Kasumi's food!" Ranma paused for a moment to prepare himself for the heaven on Earth that was Kasumi's cooking. Quickly, he leapt down from the roof in order to head off his father, who, surprisingly, wasn't there to fling him aside into the koi pond. Ranma blinked. "What the-? Where the hell'd Pops go?" He snorted in derision. "Che. Baka Panda. More for me I guess." With that, Ranma dashed inside to prepare himself for a large slice of ambrosia known as Tendou Kasumi's homemade dinner.

**5 seconds ago**

"Ranma-kun! Saotome-san! Dinner is ready!"

Saotome Genma, Father of Saotome Ranma, Student of Happosai (Genma: Don't say that name!), Creator and sealer of the Umi- and Yama-senken Forbidden Arts, and all around idiot, didn't have much on his mind. As a matter of fact, his thought process in the 5 seconds from Kasumi's call were thus:

(Before the call) Ranma must wed Akane and insure my easy retirement

(After the call) Foooood!!!!

Food! Kasumi's delicous meals! Sweet nectar of the Gods!

Hey, is that No-chan coming around the corner?

Oh crap! No-chan!

Genma, so close to sweet, perfection induced bliss, screeched to a near halt and turned to run the other way, scrambling to find some cold water when-

"Genma?"

Nodoka spotted him. He froze, not wanting to look back, but to scared to continue forward. "H-hai, No-chan?"

Behind him, Nodoka smiled. "I've been looking for you. Do you mind informing me of what has become of my son? Is he manly yet?"

Genma gulped. "Why, of course, No-chan! I'm just..um...going to get him! Yeah, that's it!"

As he was about to run off, he heard an ominous sound. SHFF! The sound of the family-honor sword being uncovered. Slowly, he turned. Nodoka was still smiling but it held an incredible chill to it. Like she knew something he did not. Like she found out about...oh...well, he's screwed. Let's check in on the hero of our story, shall we?

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to be Hokage! Ya damn well better believe it, 'cause if ya don't, I'll kick yer ass!!!"

Whoops. Wrong anime.

"Yessss, my precioussss..."

Sheesh, not even close to Japan. And he ain't a hero!

"I'm Sailor Moon and in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

This is not a magical girl crossover (as of yet, anyways...dun dun duuuuun)!

"OSUWARI!!!"

"OW! DAMMIT WOMAN! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?!"

Right manga-ka, wrong manga.

Well, maybe later. Back to Genma.

"N-N-N-N-No-chan..."

Nodoka stared blankly at Genma before phasing out in a blur. Genma eeped at the feel of cold metal on his skin and suppressed the urge to jump. How did Nodoka get so fast!?! From the shadows behind him emerged a Nodoka not often seen by many. A seriously pissed Nodoka. "Genma, I do not appreciate being lied to. Where is Ranma? Or perhaps you would prefer if I said it this way." She mimicked herself mockingly. "Panda-san, Panda-san, Do you know where Sanzenin Ranma is?"

Genma blinked, his mind going into overdrive. "Sanzenin? Isn't that that obscenely rich oil tycoon? Yes! I'm set for life if I can just leech off of the worthless boy's inheritance." Sadly, the foot-in-mouth syndrome that appears to plague all Saotome men had kicked in.

"Worthless son? You mean Ranma isn't manly?"

Genma paled. "Oh fuck. I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yes, _dear_." Nodoka almost growled, a red aura rising around her. "You did."

Ranma looked up from his seventh helping of sukiyaki. "Mwha Mwa Ma Mao?"

Kasumi frowned slightly. "Remember your manner's Ranma-kun. Don't speak with your mouth full."

Ranma winced and swallowed. He feared a scolding from Kasumi more then anything in the world (except maybe Akane's cooking and c-c-cats. Yep, those cute fuzzy little hellspawn definitely topped the list of things that Saotome Ranma feared). "Sorry 'bout that, Kas-chan." Kasumi smiled at him and he felt as if the weight of the world just lifted off his shoulders. "What was that sound? It was almost like the sound of ultimate suffering combined with a chorus of c-c-c-c-c-those things."

Soun looked up from his newspaper. Then he shrugged and snapped it back into place, continuing where he left off.

Nodoka stood above a beaten and badly mutilated Genma, who was lying on the ground moaning in pain. "Now, Genma, do tell me of the training journey you took my son on. I want the trip, the whole trip, and nothing but the trip...especially the springs of Jusenkyo."

"H-how did you know of that?" Genma stuttered, paling to a new definition of pasty-white. 'Ohcrap,gonnadie,ohcrap,gonnadie,ohcrap,gonnadie!'

Nodoka smiled mysteriously. "Oh, I have my ways..."

Up in her bedroom, Nabiki hardly noticed the sneeze she let out as she continued to stare at the briefcase of ten-thousand-yen notes Nodoka had plopped in front of her a few hours ago for information regarding one Ranma Saotome. "I had no idea Auntie Nodoka was so _loaded_..."

_**The End (of the chapter)**_

_Did you all enjoy that? Just wait, cause there's more to come! Soon, we shall cross over into new crossover territory! Please, do review. (PS Sorry it's so short, It was the end of the page for this chacpter. Coming next time: Pluto's plight! crossover hell!)_


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